Tesla Trip Planner website showing much longer cross country route for Model S/X versus 3/Y?

[dusterbuster]

Hi all, I’m planning a cross country drive in my 2023 Model X LR from Los Angeles to North Carolina. I was looking at the Tesla Trip Planner on the Tesla website to research the best route options, and weirdly the Tesla route planner on the website shows a much longer (and slower) route when I select any of the S or X vehicle options versus a 3 or Y (almost a 10 hour difference, 57 hours for X versus 47 hours for 3), even where the S/X have longer rated ranges as shown on the website.

For some reason the trip planner will always show a more roundabout route that goes through the Rocky Mountains (Colorado) rather than the more direct route through the South when I select an S or X. Seems bizarre that the trip planner would show such a different (and less efficient route) for the S/X versus the 3/Y, and so I was curious if others have experienced the same issue, and/or know what’s going on here.

Thanks!

 

[bmah]

Hi all, I’m planning a cross country drive in my 2023 Model X LR from Los Angeles to North Carolina. I was looking at the Tesla Trip Planner on the Tesla website to research the best route options, and weirdly the Tesla route planner on the website shows a much longer (and slower) route when I select any of the S or X vehicle options versus a 3 or Y (almost a 10 hour difference, 57 hours for X versus 47 hours for 3), even where the S/X have longer rated ranges as shown on the website.

For some reason the trip planner will always show a more roundabout route that goes through the Rocky Mountains (Colorado) rather than the more direct route through the South when I select an S or X. Seems bizarre that the trip planner would show such a different (and less efficient route) for the S/X versus the 3/Y, and so I was curious if others have experienced the same issue, and/or know what’s going on here.

Thanks!

This doesn't directly answer your question, but...

My advice to you is to not use the "Go Anywhere" page on the Tesla Web site. It's really more of a marketing tool to show you that road-tripping a Tesla is feasible (it is, of course!) than something you can use as an actual trip planner. It doesn't take into account weather, traffic, starting time, payload, starting level of charge...etc.

There are several tools that are designed for the purpose you want. The easiest is to just sit in your car and plug in your final destination and let the car's navigation system tell you were it wants to charge. While accurate, it's kind of limited in its flexibility for long, multi-day drives. If you want more control over routing and timing, there are several third-party solutions. Two I have used are A Better Route Planner (Web site, mobile apps) and EV Trip Optimizer (mobile app, might be iOS only?).

Bruce.

 

[dusterbuster]

Thanks, Bruce. Very helpful. I will check out the two other route planning options you mentioned, in addition to planning to rely primarily on the route planning in the car for the daily routes.

 

[Richbot]

Yep. Use ABRP, or the car itself. New X vs. New 3, ought to be very similar, maybe even slight nod to the X, and new S is the fastest cross-country EV, or close to it. An older X will road trip slower than a 3 beacuse of charge time and efficiency, but it's not going to be route-altering difference unless you're comparing like a 75D to a 3 Long Range or something with 100+ moremiles of range. I imagine what's going on is they're using worst-case or Legacy S/X, and haven't updated it since 2018...

Unless you're going 50+ miles off the major interstates, you don't need to do much planning in a Tesla these days IMO, other than being cognizant of total charge time. The system is really, really big and good and numerous options, so that except in the most desolate stretches, even the shortest-range Teslas can skip a charger occasionally.